Senseless

Guest Author - Elizabeth Darrach

Hello, and welcome back! I'm still waiting for my first real snowfall of the season, and we may get that tonight. At least, enough to finally cover the grass, anyway. Maybe the next one will be better, deep enough to justify breaking out the hot chocolate with marshmallows.

This time out, I have the latest romantic suspense from Mary Burton, Senseless (Zebra, received from publisher), the first of a connected pair of stories. In this one, Eva Rayburn has slowly started to make a new life for herself after spending ten years in prison for a crime she didn't commit. Still, her record has her guilty of murdering the man who raped and assaulted her, and she has to live her life with the stigma of murderer attached to her. It colors her perception of everything she does, everything she sees. It keeps her from reconnecting to her sister, who lives in the same town where Eva has returned. And when a killer starts all over, finding and murdering people connected to Eva's past, detective Deacon Garrison has to decide if Eva is truly a criminal or if she might be a victim soon. Eva isn't about to trust a cop, not after the things in her past, but Deacon is determined, either to prove her guilty or innocent, and he's also a very attractive man. Deacon has issues of his own, and getting involved with a suspect is completely out of line. This one is heavy on the suspense, and I know some romantic suspense readers like their books just like that. There are some secondary characters involved here who will intrigue readers, though I did figure out one of the issues tied into the main suspense tale before the reveal. If you're looking for a good mystery and don't mind a lighter hand on the romance end of the story, this is probably going to be right up your alley. Eva is a strong character, filled with contradictions and tangled motivations. I'm borrowing three of Cupid's five arrows for this one, as I wish it had been heavier on the romance.